Toyota fetes 60th anniversary of Corolla rollout | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News - NHKニュース

Toyota Motor has held a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the first launch of its iconic, mass-market Corolla cars.

The event took place at the firm's Tsutsumi plant in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, on Sunday. All 12 successive Corolla models were on display.

The first model hit the market in 1966 while the country was enjoying rapid economic growth. It was affordable and high in usability, helping boost the prevalence of vehicles.

Toyota says it has rolled out Corollas in more than 150 countries and regions. The firm says it had sold over 58 million units as of the end of September.

Toyota unveiled a next-generation Corolla concept model last year. It is developing a setup compatible with diverse powertrains, such as a gasoline engine, a plug-in hybrid system and a fully electric configuration.

Fukushima Toru, the chief engineer in charge of developing the Corolla series, told reporters that cars in demand now differ from those in the past. He added that Toyota wants to create vehicles that can beat expectations even in the current era.